This Woman Posted a Powerful Message Against Mom-Shaming

Raising kids is hard enough without the superhuman standards by which society judges moms. Women seem to face judgment no matter how they parent: if they stay at home, they're told they're not setting an example of ambition for their children; if they work, they're told they're depriving their kids of love and support, and so on ad infinitum. It's pervasive and exhausting, which is why one's mom's Facebook post reminding other mothers that there are many ways to be a good mom has made such an impression.

On Tuesday, mom Ashle Potter shared a letter to the Love What Matters Facebook page commending mothers who make seemingly opposite parenting choices or are simply doing what they can to care for their kids. "To the mom who had to feed her kids from the drive thru all week because you're too worn out to cook or go grocery shopping: You're feeding your kids, and hey, I bet they aren't complaining!" she wrote. "Sometimes sanity can indeed be found in a white bag with a big red chick on it. You're a good mom."

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"To the mom who gave her kids a homecooked breakfast lunch and dinner for the past week: Excellent!" Potter continued. "Good nutrition is important, and they're learning to enjoy healthy foods at an early age, a boon for the rest of their lives. You're a good mom." Her praise addressed mothers who breastfeed and mothers who formula-feed, who use cloth diapers and who use disposable, who work and who stay home, and whose kids are behaving themselves and whose kids have picked an awkward place to have a meltdown. Potter concludes, "To the moms who judge other moms for ANY of the above? Glass houses, friend. Glass houses."

The post has been liked over 34,000 times and shared over 15,000 so far, with many chiming in with additions. "To the mom who had her baby vaginally, you are brave. You are a good mom," one commenter wrote. "To the mom who had her baby through C-section, you are the epitome of strength. You are a good mom." The bottom line: good parenting looks different from mother to mother. What's not a good look is tearing women down for their version of it.